Invasion of Ukraine disrupts shipping around the world and hits supply chains

The war in Ukraine has severely disrupted shipping in the Black Sea, with widespread consequences for international transportation and global supply chains, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Dozens of cargo ships remained stranded in the Ukrainian port of Mykolaiv, according to maritime traffic tracking sites, while 3,500 sailors remained stranded in about 200 ships at Ukrainian ports, according to the London-based "Windward" Shipping Company.

Naval historians say there are more ships stranded worldwide than at any time since World War II.

Because of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the world's second largest grain-exporting region was closed.

Ukraine and Russia together account for 30 percent of world wheat exports.

World wheat prices have jumped more than 55 percent since the week before the Russian invasion.

"This shock to global grain supplies is the biggest since the OPEC oil cuts in the 1970s," said Salvatore Mercogliano, a professor at Campbell University in North Carolina and former merchant navigator.

"That means food shortages in the Middle East and Africa, and inflation all over the world," he added.

The war on Ukraine is adding to the strain on global grain supply chains, already battered by two years of disruption caused by the pandemic.

Poor countries that depend on imports are experiencing weak supply, while prices are rising in countries such as Egypt, Turkey and Syria.

Egypt imports 85% of its wheat from Ukraine and Russia.

The war on Ukraine has forced thousands of Ukrainian and Russian seafarers to remain stranded in ports around the world, causing shipowners to seek replacement crews to maintain supply chains.

In the Black Sea and the adjacent Sea of ​​Azov, important food and oil export routes, five tankers and cargo ships were hit by the missiles, according to Ukrainian port authorities.

The stricken ships include tankers, container ships and bulk carriers from Japan, Turkey, Moldova and Estonia to transport goods including diesel, mud and grain.

The Ukrainian authorities generally blame Russia, which has amassed a fleet of warships along the Ukrainian coast.

On the other hand, Russia denied responsibility for the attacks.

Russian forces have targeted missiles at infrastructure at Ukrainian ports - as part of a plan to seize Ukraine's southern coast to cut it off from the sea and stifle its economy.

Last Wednesday, a missile struck aboard the cargo ship "MV Banglar Samriddhi" at 5:25 pm, killing one crew member and seriously injuring several others, according to the Bangladeshi crew members, their families and Ukrainian authorities.

This was the fifth merchant ship to be hit by artillery off the coast of Ukraine since the Russian invasion on February 24.

On February 27, news reached the Bangladeshi crew that a Japanese cargo ship had been hit by a missile in Ukrainian waters, as they raised Bangladeshi flags in the hope that it would protect them.

The 29-member crew of the cargo ship "MV Banglar Samriddhi" docked at the Ukrainian port of Olvia on February 23, preparing to load clay and raw materials for ceramic manufacturing bound for the Italian port of Ravenna.

The third engineer, Hasidur Rahman, the main breadwinner for his family in the southern countryside of Bangladesh, called his brothers to tell them that he had arrived and told them that he would soon return to his country so that he could marry next year.

Within hours, Russian forces poured across the Ukrainian border and surrounded hundreds of ships, including a Bangladeshi cargo ship.

The crew heard the sounds of distant explosions and watched the smoke rise on the horizon with concern, while the company that owned the ship was directed to sail in international waters, but Captain Nour Alam was unable to obtain permission from the Ukrainian authorities.

The ship's crew was informed that dozens of naval mines had been planted around the port's entrance.

“We couldn't get out because the mines were blocking the canal,” Alam said.

Meanwhile, Rahman's family in Bangladesh was showering him with letters.

"There are attempts to move us to another place. But this is difficult," he said in a February 26 text message to his younger brother.

Rahman told his family that they would be holed up inside the ship, at a time when the captain ordered food rationing.

Diplomatic efforts to evacuate the crew accelerated, as Bangladeshi officials in Warsaw put pressure on the Ukrainians.

On March 2, at around 5 p.m., Rahman climbed the Navigation Bridge to get a better mobile phone signal and called his family.

He sought to assuage his brothers' fears and told them that his work helped the family escape poverty, saying, "Don't worry about me. I'm fine."

His brother Ghulam heard an explosion during the call before the line went off.

His other brother later learned that the missile had killed Rahman.

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